Gangsters Paradise: How soccer has become more than a sport - Amar Parikh

One thing I have come to learn about soccer is how the culture of a certain cub is shaped based on the supporters. The thing about soccer is that it has a lot of political/racial/social aspects within the various clubs and the rivalries with opposing clubs. In chapter 1 The Gangster’s Paradise Foer talks about his experience with the Red Star fan club called The Ultra Bad Boy and how their image boosted Serbian nationalism during the 1990s. The image of the club has become tainted do to violent fans committing acts of hooliganism.

In soccer, their fans known as ultras, which are, die hard fans showing their support with flares and banners during games. These fans are unfortunately also known for their violence towards opposite fans. The Heysel stadium disaster was an incident that occurred in Belgium in which Liverpool supporters broke a fence and pushed it up against Juventus supporters essentially crushing them. This incident caused a huge uproar within the British media because British hooliganism was already an issue both in the UK and aboard. This incident causes all British teams to be banned from all European tournaments indefinitely, which would later be uplifted in 3 years.

 Soccer is a sport in which clubs can become aligned with the idea of a certain movement. An example of this is the rivalry of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, dubbed the El Clasico (the classic) is arguably the biggest rivalry ever seen in sports. From the outside it may seem like it is just a sports rivalry however, there is a lot of political tension between the two teams and their fans. The region of Catalonia where Barcelona is located has strong sense Catalanism. They oppose Real Madrid who aligned themselves with Spanish nationalism. During the Spanish civil war dictator Francisco Franco banned all regional languages and culture in favor of a uniform Spanish identity. This threatens to destroy Catalonian culture and many of its citizens were heavily opposed to Franco’s movement. This very oppression has caused the Catalonian citizens to have great pride in FC Barcelona because it represents the very idea of Catalonian culture and heritage.

This tension between two teams can also be seen in the international game as well. During the Falkland War there was territorial dispute between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Island. Four years after the war England and Argentina played in a knockout match of the world cup in which Diego Maradona scored the “hand of god”.  This angered many English fans because of the obvious handball but it was never called. Fans saw this as a form of revenge because the British won the war and left the Argentinians embarrassed.

            World soccer shows up that a club can be more than a club for a group of individuals. Their identity and ideology can be expressed by the club and gives their supporters a sense of pride. Soccer rivalries can expresses political rivalries, ethnic rivalries, and even religious rivalries. As long as there is opposition in race/religion/politics there will be opposition in soccer.  

Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.

Ellie Silverman Blog Post 4

Media coverage of the Holocaust, influence on globalization


Over the summer I traveled with this university’s Hillel on a trip to Poland to learn about the past, present and future of Jewish life. We walked around the area that used to host the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest of all the Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe where over 4000,000 Jews resided in the 4.3km area. Many of these people were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp in 1942 where they faced a certain death. We also walked the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the German concentration camp that became the largest site for the mass extermination of Jews. More than 1,100,000 lives were lost there.

Learning about the mass extermination of a group or “race” of people is one thing. But traveling to Poland, seeing the places you read about in texts books and visiting the nearby towns that were once largely occupied by Jews and now have no Jewish residents – well that’s something else. I could not comprehend how those people, who were not Jewish, living in these towns, could idly stand by why this injustice was occurring. Moreover, I could not understand how a camp as large as Auschwitz-Birkenau continued to exist for so long without international intervention. In past lectures we have discussed the concept of globalization and how it includes the flow and spread of ideas across nations. This can be applied to how anti-Semitism was spread during World War II and other times throughout history. The New York Times, one of the most widely read and respected papers, did not help in spreading accurate news during this time.


Among “all the news that’s fit to print” on the front page of one of the most widely and influential newspapers in the U.S. on July 2, 1942 the only stories on World War II involve British fleets in Alexandria, conflicts in Egypt and the Nazi’s capture of Russia’s Black Sea naval base. Buried on page six is a story on a proposal that reported the “slaughter of 700,000 Jews in German-occupied territories.” This is one-fifth of the entire Jewish population of Poland, the story reported. The article highlighted certain aspects of the report, including that “children in orphanages, old persons in almshouses, the sick in hospitals and women were slain in the streets.” At the very bottom of the story on page six, it is reported that gas chambers were being used to murder Jews and that about 35,000 Jews were gassed daily in Lodz between Jan. 2 and Jan. 9. The fact that the Nazi’s are mass exterminating people in camps and gas chambers should have been the headline on the front-page of the New York Times and every media outlet across the country.


Reading the New York Times in 1942 would not have given Americans the information they needed to realize the Holocaust was taking place. Yes, information regarding the mass extermination of Jews was in the paper, but it was buried in a side column on page six. News outlets are supposed to be gatekeepers and agenda-setters as well as framing a story to correctly portray its newsworthiness to readers, viewers or listeners. Placing this story on page six diminished its importance and did not follow any of the following roles the New York Times is supposed to fulfill.


Even after World War II, the founding of Israel and the spread of Jews to countries outside of Europe, Foer points out that Jews never fully became accepted within globalization. When looking at this one case study, it does not surprise me that Foer said that anti-Semitism is still prevalent in today’s society stating that is as “pervasive as it has ever been,” (Foer, 71).

Journalism is just one median to spread ideas, but it is still a powerful one that can influence the effects of globalization in terms of sharing ideas and promoting positive interactions.

Karla Perez

Corruption: A Negative Effect of Globalization

In “How Soccer Explains the World” Franklin Foer argues that globalization has had no effect on positively changing or eradicating corruption at the local level in under-developed countries. Globalization’s benefits are prominent in developed nations with strong financial and government structures. In developing nations that become more involved in the world economy with significantly weaker institutions however, globalization leads to corruption within these already weak institutions.

            Already existing corruption is only entrenched and “undermines the potential benefits of globalization” in undeveloped or developing nations. This corruption only further pushes away foreign investment and chases away any additional capital that could enter these states. This could be seen as a significant reason for why developing nations are left behind as a cause of globalization, the relation between globalization and corruption is increasingly tied to this observation. The known corruption of these nations often times affects the foreign aid that these developing nations receive as well, only adding more strain to their economic situation. An example of this is seen in many African countries like Uganda in which conducted study showed that only twenty seven cents of every dollar donated to the country for education actually went to the cause. Unfortunately the bulk of such aid and donation was invested into local political purposes. While donations are being skimmed by corrupt politicians and elites of such countries, the overall economic prosperity of the nation declines and the corruption remains the same.

            Corruption is an issue within the legal systems of under developed nations. Some argue that this corruption enables more income distribution however the flaws are far more detrimental to the overall condition of these countries. The main small-scale and local corruption of officers that accept bribes when issuing tickets propagates and continues to support the large scale level corruption of multibillion dollar organizations. This essentially creates a culture of crime and corruption within these organizations and their entire nations as well. (http://yourknowledge.hubpages.com/hub/Negative-Effects-of-Globalization-Corruption)

           Globalization can obviously have many benefits, but the distinction of its effects is clear between developed and developing nations. Corruption is definitely among the most signaled negative effects of globalization among under-developed nations because the weak institutions within these nations become an easy breeding ground for the corruption to occur in the first place.

Natalia Rojas: 'Islam's Hope' was like Nelson Mandela's Rugby Strategy -- maybe there is something to this?

                I happened to watch my friend watch the Arsenal v. Manchester United game last Saturday. He threw out foul curse towards Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny and bashed their fans, and I’ve never seen him so passionate. I can only imagine the streets and pubs of Greater Manchester in comparison to my friends’ Hyattsville, Maryland basement. But, soccer does reach many points across the globe, and in Franklin Foer’s book How Soccer Explains The World, he tries to justify the soccer phenomenon to globalization. I found many of Foer’s arguments to be weak, but there was one on the surface I found I could agree with. His argument: soccer can bring change and new perspectives to countries that shares global values (Islam’s Hope).

I see the similarity of Foer’s Islam argument, to the story of Nelson Mandela’s use of rugby to unite South Africa and throttle them onto the world stage. Nelson Mandela once said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair.” This quote floated through my mind as I read chapter 9 (How Soccer Explains Islam’s Hope). Foer explains that Iran’s governmental policy transition was supported by the adoption of soccer in their culture. The adoption of soccer influenced the Iranian people as they accepted norms of the west: modernization, western dress wear, competition, and sports knowledge. Even afterwards when religious leaders condemned soccer’s modernity (soccer shorts showing the knees), the Iranian people still kept their passions for the sport and lead to the integration of women at sporting events. While, this is a leap to say the soccer lead to Iranian democracy and greater civil equality, I do understand the mechanics of adopting a sport to be seen as ‘part of the club’ and partially advancing new norms.

Nelson Mandela hosted and won the 1995 Rugby World Cup to prove to the international community that South Africa was a strong united country abolishing apartheid, and that South Africa was successful in their transition of hostile government parties. Nelson Mandela wanted to make South Africa marketable and known to the world, and saw the platform of sports as the most influential way of doing so. Similarly, as the Iranians envisioned according to Foer, they saw soccer as a bridge for them between the West and being seen as modern. Both instances show that sports soccer particularly, is a global culture and a standard for developing countries to adopt and achieve. Soccer has almost become an indicator of a reputable country (on the face that is).

For the arguments of globalization, soccer has the ability to increase interconnected-ness, while we may not speak the same language or have the same cultures, our eyes are all on the ball. Our nations united in sporting events like the World Cup, which bring together diverse countries in the name of hope and learning. While soccer cannot solve the problems of economies, political parties, and terrorism – arguing a constructivist perspective, it can create a dialogue between countries that never existed, communities, and share things that are in common.  Foer explains that the instinct to feel included in the world community leads countries like Iran and South Africa to adopt sports and evolve within themselves to become more globalized; while its more complex than sports, it’s a bridge and a beginning that could lead to something bigger.

Lauren Mishan- Blog 4

The chapter that interested me the most was “How Soccer Explains the Jewish Question.” I think this chapter was very interesting because it discussed how there are very few famous Jewish athletes in the world now. Something that majority of people would overlook, but something that hits close to home to me when I think about sports and the way my religion is connected to it. I thought it was interesting that he brought up this fact that it isn’t very present and that they only come around “once in a decade” (Foer, 65).

            In lecture, we talked about pluralism and how states are no longer homogenous nations, but instead are a mix of all different sorts of people. I think it is interesting how some countries have stayed so homogenous in the sense of religion. We also learned that the concept of globalization includes the flow of ideas, which ties in nicely with when Foer talks about how anti-Semitism spread around the world, and can still be found. Here is where critics will argue that globalization is not such a good thing for these ideas are misconstrued. Foer makes a good point that anti-Semitism is alive and well and is as “pervasive as it has ever been…or even more so” (Foer, 71). Foer moves on to talk about how even after the Holocaust and the founding of Israel, the acceptance of the Jews never really occurred. Instead, the Jews remained foreigners, people that the Europeans could not identify with, but could solely recognize them for their symbols. But even so, globalization helped to transform Europe. Immigrants who mainly have been taking the brunt of the “hate” off the Jewish people have flooded the country, and instead much of the hate in soccer focuses on the blacks and the Muslims.

            I liked that the author then related the way the Europeans perceived the Jewish people using symbols, to the way that U.S. sports teams use Indians in their mascots. Today there are many arguments against teams like the “Redskins,” arguing that it is offensive and should be changed. This is a huge debate that is happening across the country one, which I believe, will never be settled.  

International Organizations: A Critique of The United Nations

One of the most important and applauded aspects of international organizations is their assumed ability to facilitate cooperation among states. International Organizations aim to provide a neutral environment in which states can resolve disputes peacefully or collectively agree on particular issues. In reality and practice however, this is usually not the case. Many criticize the effectiveness of international organizations, and for this post I will specifically discuss certain critiques of the United Nations and why I believe this organization fails to meet its original intended purpose.

            

The United Nations was created in order to provide collective security and promote peace. The main component of the United Nations, the Security Council, operates under the overarching commitment that all states will attack an aggressor state or if one of their members is attacked. This commitment however is not upheld by states/members, even when rare consensus on action is reached. In a recent example (2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis) no action was taken to enforce the agreed resolution to disarm terrorist organizations. In addition, there were no real consequences, as there usually aren't, for violating the Security Council Resolution. This issue take legitimacy from the Security Council and the UN itself, because of its inability to enforce its resolutions and furthermore impose authority when these resolutions are not followed through. It also shows that its members may not actually take the organization they comprise seriously, which is obviously problematic.

            

The Security Council has five permanent members including: The United States, Russia, China, France, and England. This is said to provide stability and efficacy for decision making, however it cannot be expected that all 5 states would agree completely on particular issues. Since each of these permanent members has veto power, it can be argued that these members may often disagree and that no action can be agreed upon and therefore no action can be taken. I question how fair this is, on a small scale level and on a large scale as well. If one of the five members with veto power is not in favor, is it fair to the others to deny action because of it? Or is that part of the system completely flawed and unfair to other members/states that have risen in power over time and might deserve veto power/permanent membership as well?

            

Another critique involving the five permanent members of the UN includes having hypocritical behavior and a sort of leniency with these five. While the UN has condemned Israel for its treatment and behavior towards Palestinians, it has not done the same for China’s similar actions towards Tibetans. This can clearly be tied back to China having permanent membership and veto power as well; any effort to even slightly correct China on this matter would probably render no results.

            

So, if the UN is not exactly neutral and unbiased, and does not seem to take clear and guided action in resolving the issues it has at hand, what is it doing? -Definitely not its intended purpose as an international organization.

-Karla Perez

Main sources- http://www.conservapedia.com/United_Nations

Lecture 11/5

Nuclear Weapons  - Seth Windmuller

Nuclear weapons have been a sensitive topic ever since they were created and eventually used by the United States in World War 2.  Since then, none have been used with the intent to kill but the fear they still strike in the world is pretty significant.  The reason for this is the outstanding amount of damage even one can cause to people and infrastructure of an opposing state.  There are many arguments of whether nuclear weapons should be allowed or banned throughout the world.  I believe that nuclear weapons are an essential part of maintaining safety and security throughout the world.  With that being said, my argument is that nuclear weapons should not be banned or disabled.

Nuclear weapons serve a great purpose with the powerhouse states that have them.  These states are China, United States, Russia, France, UK, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea.  This purpose is a balance between these states in specific.  There is mutually assured destruction that is known between these states with nuclear weapons.  This means that basically if for example, France decided to bomb the UK with nukes, they better be ready to receive the same thing in return which of course would cause so much damage that no one would really benefit from doing it.  With this realization, most likely these states won’t be attacking each other, which creates a sort of balance between them. 

A way that nuclear weapons maintain a sense of safety and security would be keeping terrorist threats and actions to a minimum.  Although there is still terrorism, I believe that nuclear weapons keep terrorists away for fear of what states with these weapons can do by fighting back.  Without such weapons what is stopping terrorists from constantly working to destroy lives of every country. 

There is an argument given by Thomas Schelling where he talks about although banning nuclear weapons would be counter-productive, he believes that reducing the amount of them worldwide might be helpful.  There are a couple of reasons why this would be a good idea.  One would be if the states with nuclear weapons would reduce their numbers and amount of weapons at the ready, the tension between these states dramatically.  Lets say the United States dropped the number of nukes at the ready, China and Russia would feel a little better and less worried about the United States using them ever.  Therefor could increase cooperation between states.  Another good reason to reduce the amount of them worldwide would be so theses nukes have a better chance of not falling into the wrong hands.  By this I mean possibly terrorists or groups who would use these nukes to kill people innocent people all over the world.  This almost happened with Iraq back when we went to war with them.  We believed they had either learned how to build nukes or have somehow gained possession of them.  If a group like ISIS gained possession of nuclear weapons the amount of destruction they could cause would be catastrophic.

These are reasons of why nuclear weapons are needed in this world to maintain balance.  But also at the same time, putting a restriction on the amount of weapons to have at the ready would be smart to control the bad possibilities that come with nukes.